Get-to-know our new Chief Executive Officer at CAP, Stewart McCulloch.
We were excited to welcome our new CEO, Stewart McCulloch, in January 2024. Hear about his leadership, faith, and vision for the future at CAP!
Tell us a bit about you and your work history?
My work history is a ‘game of two halves’. I’m an accountant by trade. I went into the City of London in the eighties determined to make my mark, and became the CEO of an international insurance business. However, when my first wife died 15 years ago, this changed everything. I knew I needed to bring my work and my faith together.
My first step on this road was to build the world’s largest non-governmental climate insurance program for the Christian charity World Vision. My second step was to lead financial charity Stewardship through the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Stewardship grew by 40% during these challenging times due to the generosity of the Christian community. We also bought Kingdom Bank!
Why did you join CAP?
Simply, I felt truly called. I saw the terrible impact of poverty first-hand throughout my childhood. My parents grew up on extremely low incomes. I also saw the biggest rise in poverty in the UK in recent history throughout my teens in Coventry. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to break free from what many of our clients at CAP face.
I knew I needed to work to help those still trapped in the poverty that I came from. To be able to lead CAP means a lot to me and is of very deep personal significance.
Can you tell us a bit about your goals and vision for CAP? Is there anything you’re specifically excited about?
Right now, my first job is to listen and learn. I’ve already spoken to so many people across our organisation and I’m excited to meet more. We all sense the spirit on the move to bring a new season for our great church based movement. Every week, I share my journey of getting to know CAP in an email to all of our volunteers and staff
This journey of getting to know CAP in all of its truth and beauty is so very exciting to me. I know from it will emerge a way forward for us that has come from us and the movement of the spirit we are all experiencing. We stand in the truth and the light to hear our Lord’s vision for our ministry in this season. We will then be able to make plans to run the race set out for us. Now that is really exciting.
The demand for our services is very high. So, we must do more. We are developing clear plans to do more, say more and have more impact with the resources we have available today.
We’re also considering the longer term plan to create a sustainable and growing movement. We must bring practical and gospel hope to all of those struggling across the UK for as long as they need us.
What challenges do you see for CAP and how can we overcome them?
Like many organisations during these challenging times, we’re facing a range of challenges and opportunities. But we are courageously adapting to a very different world and a very different church to when we were founded over a quarter of a century ago.
Demand for what we do is huge but our resources are limited. As the parable of the talents teaches us, we must first be good stewards and then we will be given more to steward. We are stewarding what we have well. We are stretching every resource we have to fulfil God’s plan for us to inspire and equip the church to reach those struggling with debt and poverty.
We ask our supporters to join in that mission for the church to reach out to their communities, helping all they can those who are struggling. By doing this, we not only see lives, churches and communities transformed, but we see our own lives transformed.
Can you share a bit about your leadership philosophy and the values that guide your decision-making?
I would sum this up in three principles:
Listen for God’s guidance, follow Jesus, immerse ourselves in his word and pray hard. We are faithful stewards seeking to grow as Christians, professionals and leaders so that we can run the race set out for us. Together, we make up a team. Like the ‘body’ of the church, we each have specific gifting and calling but only together do we function as God intended.
‘Stand firm’ in the ‘full armour of God.’ Know that the ‘belt of truth’ is the first thing you put on. After all, facing the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, will set us free from what holds us back.
Jesus came to serve and not be served. Leaders should adopt his servant hearted approach. This can be quite radical. The leader’s question becomes to ask what do those we serve need from us? Business folk call this agile, customer focused and the like, I call it servant leadership.
What does a perfect day look like for you?
A day where I am humbled by the courage of our clients to face their issues. Humbled by the unique gifting of those that serve our clients, humbled by the incredible talent of those of us who support them in these transformational journeys and humbled by the generosity of those who join us as supporters.
A day where we have worshipped together, prayed together, broken bread together and worked together. A day when I get home to be with my wife, Sarah.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with CAP supporters?
I will be sharing many things with our incredible supporters in the future but for now, I want to share three things:
Just how broad and deep I am finding our church based movement to be.
The astounding heart and incredible gifts of my amazing colleagues in offices and churches across the UK.
An invitation to all of our supporters to join us in being Christians Against Poverty at this historic and very challenging time.
